SHEFFELS … “And they should do an independent analysis of costs on different farm sectors before they move forward with any of these kinds of policies, but that has not been done.”

He says the taxes would hit at a time when commodity prices are very low …

SHEFFELS … “They just can’t afford these extra hits on their margins. Their margins are already very small and so they’re just worried that there will be severe unintended consequences from these proposals and that they won’t be able to absorb the increasing carbon costs that are passed on to them.”

Sheffels says farmers are already investing in new and better practices …

SHEFFELS … “The problem with the tax is that it will take that money out of your pocket that you would otherwise be able to spend on better conservation and better actions that either sequester carbon or reduce emissions of methane or you can reduce emissions of other greenhouse gasses.

There are all kinds of things that agriculture has done and it’s going to continue doing that are positive outcomes, but taking money out of the farmer’s pocket just makes it harder to continue doing those good actions.”